Advertisement
Published: March 4th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Outback golf
3rd hole, 5,983 yards. Par 456. "Fooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" Leaving Bali airport was quite interesting in terms of the security procedures which included two sets of bag x-ray scans (this concerned me a little!!), a body search and a further search of my hand luggage in case I had explosives in it...now I'm not an expert on concealing explosives or any other matter but surely this would've / should've been picked up prior to the departure gate??!!
After surviving my Asian travels I landed at Darwin airport at 4:30am after no sleep and was a little taken aback with the immigration controls. I got nailed by a sniffer dog as I'd had a ham sandwich in a bag, I then had a wristband I’d got from a Thai tribe cut off as it was made of prohibited seeds and I then had my wooden carving of Ganesh from Bali scrutinised by a butch woman...
Whilst in Darwin I:
Chilled out which included watching a one day international against the locals on TV which we only went and blinking won!!! Still undefeated too after the final and I've got some ammo to throw back now after le Ashes debarcle.
Came second in a pub quiz and won $50
Snake ladder
I was showing this Diamond python called Neil (geddit?) who's boss. He's apparently a 'geezer' too (Joke copyright Warwick Heskins c.1938).
NB - don't worry Tegs as he only bites Australians! of free beer
Watched some mental thunderstorms
Went on a trip to Kakadu park which is on Aboriginal lands
Saw the jumping crocs
Hiked in c.40C heat and I dread to think the humidity percentage but it was a touch hot and sweaty - even the streams were too hot to cool us down
Saw some ancient Aborignal art
Visted and swam in a couple of croc free waterfalls and billabongs
Played a didgeridoo
Fed a big croc some left over salami
Fed some fresh water barramundi which the locals use as the 'fish' in Fish 'n' Chips
Met Dan, Dan the Sydney man once again so we ended up getting a Toyota Hi-lux 4x4 camper for AS$25 a day as it needed relocating to Cairns which was our next destination. Along the 3,000km route, in which we only had 5 days to complete it, we did the following:
Realised that the A/C was burning up the diesel so we made an executive decision to turn it off so we just, well, fryed in the cabin 😞
Took a huge detour from the highway as a road train carrying cyanide had turned over and spilt it over
the road
Listened to, pretty much, all the songs on my ipod
Went on a mental helicopter ride over Katherine gorge - the pilot realised we were missing a few brain cells so gave us the 'rollercoater' experience 😊))))))
Went fishing for Barramundi and actually caught some between 55-69cms 😊 It tastes v good.
Saw 10 other vehicles on one day after doing 1,200kms!
Stayed in a mining town called Mount Isa - apparently there are something like 3 women to 50 men on average
Got very hot in general
Played outback golf and keepyuppy
Didn’t drive in the dark due to the nutty wildlife trying to commit suicide
Went for a few beers in a local pub for local people - we stood out a little and they loved me being there as they’d lost in the cricket to us again
Visited an Aboriginal museum which was closed
Visited the Royal Flying Doctors Service museum which was…yip, closed.
Got a bit wet.
Saw nowt but scenery for hours on end
Got attacked by trillions of bugs which even jumped in the showers, decided to chill out in my pants while I was having a shower, jumped in all
our food (took a protein hit 😉 and generally just pi$$ed us off!
Got off the road every time a road train passed us
Went off road driving even though we weren’t really supposed to - if you’ve got a 4x4 then why not…
Visited the Burke& Willis monument - they were the first people to explore this region
Got stopped by the Police
Saw the sign to commemorate the hottest temperature recorded in Cloncurry where it reached a scorching 53C!!! The world record is 58C and was recorded in Libya.
Arrived in Cairns alive and within the time limit 😊
Roadkill stats (confirmed kills)
1 huge bird that took the Toyota badge off the front
14 small birds that just flew into the grill
Unconfirmed kills / near misses:
A Brown snake which can kill
Blinking kangaBLOODYroos that just love jumping out in front of you in groups!!!
A couple of lizard thingymajiggs
Us after two outback guys, who looked like heavily tattooed members of the ZZ Top fan club, stopped near us in the middle of t’Outback and starting walking towards us…they were ok but we got back in the 4x4 faster than you can
Ok, I believe you!!!
You get out of the way of these, even on a two way highway, unless you want to become road kill! say “Get in the Ute, Sheila”
Almost had a head on with another 4x4
Interspecies Top Trumps - Christophinoz vs Crocodile
Height / length: Croc generally wins
Ability to cook cheesy beans on toast: Christophinoz wins
Bite: Croc wins but not on the footy pitch
Swimming speed: 2kms per hour vs 15 - Croc wins
Land speed: 20kms ph vs 10 - Christophinoz wins
Reach: 65 inches vs 20 inches so Christophinoz wins
Ability to hold young in mouth: Croc wins
Fondness for Americans: They're alright I suppose vs mmmmm, yeh...I'd love a munch so Croc wins
Cartwheelability: Crap vs non-existant = Christoph wins
Tolerance to sand flies / mossies etc: None whatsoever vs don't care = Croc wins
Existence on planet: Croc wins by a few hundred million years
Result: Landslide win by le Croc!
Recommended Tunes - Blackcurrent
Advertisement
Tot: 0.122s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0393s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
lucy
non-member comment
great blog chris, nice to see you are having a good time...cheers Lucy